The Law of General Damages – Judicial College Guidelines 25 Years On

Understanding General Damages

There is often a lack of understanding among Claimant’s about how much their personal or medical injury claim is worth in terms of value. All have been through a horrible ordeal, often understandably they will want answers as to what has happened to them, and they seek compensation for damage done and for rehabilitation which will allow them to rebuild their lives.

Damages are broken down into two categories:-

• General damages – or pain suffering and loss of amenity; and
• Special damages – generally tangible losses such as loss of earnings, care, medical expenses, travel etc (both past and future).

In this article I will look at general damages as these are often difficult for a Claimant to calculate themselves; because how can an injury be measured in terms of monetary compensation? How does one value the loss of a leg for example? The loss of a leg is likely to be less detrimental to a lawyer or banker who sits in an office all day compared to say a roofer who will be on his feet all day working at heights. Similarly how can pain be valued monetarily? Everyone has a different pain threshold and lots of people are affected differently by it. What might be a moderate amount of pain to one Claimant may be more debilitating to another. If one Claimant is never able to run again and pre-accident he ran 5 times a week for fun then his loss is going to be more sorely felt than that by a Claimant who never ran at all.

In order to overcome this hurdle the Court has developed a system whereby the Claimant would not be compensated for the injury they have sustained, but for the loss suffered as a result of that injury. This takes into account all case specific facts including what the prognosis is, what the Claimant’s age is, and what their life expectancy is, etc.

Historically Judges have relied on previously decided case law for guidance on what to award for general damages. This would often involve extensive and lengthy searches through law journals trying to locate a case where the Claimant had similar injuries and where those injuries had a similar impact of their life. Things became complicated for example if a case was found with the same injuries but where the Claimant was a significantly different age. Naturally if a Claimant is in their 20’s then any injury suffered is most likely going to have an impact on their lives over a much large period of time then if the Claimant is in their 70’s.

More recently the Judicial College Guidelines have been largely relied on. Original started in 1992 they recognised the challenges faced by Judges as to how general damages should be calculated. The Juridical College Guidelines are now on their 14th edition and compiled by a number of barrister and Judges. They take into account a wide range of case law and set out a bracket as to where a similar injury could sit. Judges are not obliged to stick within this guide and they can make awards higher or lower if the facts allow, but they are a help in indicating what an appropriate award should be and help parties negotiate settlement of injuries.

Each new edition takes into account any changes in the law effecting general damages, recently decided case law and also inflation. The Judicial College Guidelines this year are now 25 years old and are still going strong.

Ben Davey is a specialist in valuing potential awards and advises Claimants on general damages as well as all other aspects of their claims. He can be contacted on bd@deanwilson.co.uk or 01273 249200.